The Pilates Boom: To Be (Comprehensive), Or Not To Be
The Pilates boom is undeniable: studios are popping up everywhere, it often feels like Pilates is every other post on social media, and everyone seems to be offering their own teacher training--but based on what? Often the people at the head of the training have no legitimate certification themselves!
The boom is not treating everyone equally, and people are getting harmed and taken advantage of by studios, either as clients or teacher training students. We’ve heard from teachers, studios, and students who are experiencing issues like a lack of proper training, physical harm, a lack of results due to improper equipment use or lack of knowledge of the actual Pilates methodology, and a general lack of quality.
In an even more extreme example, a studio is currently being sued by Balanced Body for having fake equipment in the studio. As a client or teacher training student at a studio like this, you may not realize why this matters; in addition to breaking the law, this is also a huge safety concern, and there are miniscule safety requirements for this fake equipment being mass produced and sold at lower prices.
This is certainly more extreme--not all studios are misleading you about crucial safety information--but it is also indicative of one of the larger issues with the Pilates boom: inaccuracy and misinformation are rising as supply attempts to catch up with demand. This studio in particular also has a teacher training program, and when you visit their website, the prominent marketing for their “comprehensive” teacher training jumps out--the word comprehensive is everywhere. Yet the program only includes reformer, mat, cadillac, and wunda chair; someone more experienced would know this is not what the industry defines as comprehensive, but you need experience first in order to see the lie.
In addition, the studio notes several times that anyone who takes their course will be qualified to sit for the National Pilates Certification Program (NPCP) exam, which is false. The NPCP, while problematic in its own right--check out our past blogs and podcasts on the topic--defines comprehensive just like the rest of the industry, including the apparatus found in most legitimate Pilates studios: mat, reformer, cadillac, wunda chair, spine corrector, ladder barrel, and magic circle. Our opinion that the NPCP is net negative for the Pilates industry notwithstanding, this teacher training fails even the basic NPCP standards because it doesn’t include ladder barrel, spine corrector, or magic circle.
To figure this out, a potential student would be required to compare the NPCP website’s requirements to the studio’s and realize on their own that the studio is misleading them. We hope that any student who is about to invest in teacher training would check these details anyways, but it’s unacceptable that any studio would be so bold as to steal from their students in this way. A graduate of that program would NOT be able to sit for the NPCP exam and likely would not be eligible to work at any legitimate Pilates studio. If they wanted to work outside of the Pilates boom, they’d likely have to start the certification process over with a truly comprehensive program.
The meaning of “comprehensive” shouldn’t be up for debate. For decades, “comprehensive” in the Pilates industry has entailed mat, reformer, cadillac, wunda chair, spine corrector, ladder barrel, and magic circle (at the very least, and many actually comprehensive programs also include ped-o-pul and the high chair). This isn’t everything Mr. Pilates invented--for example, most programs don’t include the guillotine, toe corrector, foot corrector, or neck stretcher--but key apparatus like those listed above have been understood as part of “comprehensive” teacher training ever since the inception of teacher training offered by the Pilates elders.
We find it interesting that, just like “Pilates” is being treated as a catch-all term for any fitness class that uses Pilates equipment, “comprehensive” is now being used to mean anything and everything, misleading consumers. As this continues and studios keep opening on every corner (with illegitimate teacher trainings, too), Pilates only becomes less specific and more diluted, and it loses the ability to respond to your unique needs and goals. Most importantly, this incomplete notion of “comprehensive” Pilates cannot keep you safe as a client or accurately educated as a teacher.
Buyer beware--unfortunately, generalized readiness for the NPCP exam is now a common standard for programs that claim to be comprehensive but are not. Not only do these fly-by-night programs lack honesty about qualifications for a third party exam, you’re also in danger of investing time and money in an outcome that will not help you with risk of injury, adaptations for pathologies, sequencing, anatomy reasoning, synthesis of the Pilates system, and more. Sadly, any hope of accountability in our industry is pushed onto the consumer; there’s nowhere to report these faulty programs or misleading studios, unsafe environments or unskilled teachers, which makes it exceptionally easy for studios to take advantage of anyone and profit from the Pilates boom.
Like all other fitness trends, the Pilates boom will likely die out, and the studios that have opened on every other corner will likely close. It is only then that the illegitimate trainings will be exposed, as their graduates attempt to find work at the studios that remain--the ones that were here before the boom and will be here after. Depending on how old you are, you might remember this happening with spin (RIP Ryde, Ride, Flywheel), barre studios (RIP Barre Body, Barre3, Pop Physique), kickboxing, Zumba, and more. The very studios that made these modalities popular typically remain after the copycats close (shoutout Soul Cycle + Pure Barre), and we see no reason that the Pilates boom will be any different.
But the Pilates boom is our reality today! Whether you’re a client in a studio with counterfeit equipment and unskilled teachers or someone in a faux-comprehensive teacher training, your investment, personal safety, and future client safety are at risk. Do your homework to find legitimate studios where you can experience the authentic system of Pilates, and legitimate educational partners to learn from.
We’re biased here at Rebel Pilates Collective, but that’s why we do what we do. Our program is unapologetically comprehensive (we include all of the apparatus), intellectually challenging, rigorous, deeply rooted in the original Pilates methodology, and evolving the original work for safety. It can be exceptionally difficult to find legitimate and safe spaces in an industry that so often lacks accountability, but at Rebel Pilates Collective, we are dedicated to accountability and making sure that our students and graduates have every opportunity for a fulfilling career teaching Pilates safely and effectively. It won’t be the cheap, quick, or easy journey promised by pop-up, trendy teacher training programs, but it will qualify you to teach anywhere you can imagine--always. Here, comprehensive still means comprehensive, and Pilates still means Pilates.